Describe the process of receiving an e-mail.

What will be an ideal response?

An e-mail message is just a file sitting on the recipient's SMTP server waiting to be picked up. The SMTP server supports two common protocols for e-mail retrieval: Internet message access protocol (IMAP) and post office protocol (POP). Recipients can generally retrieve e-mails by using a Web-based browser interface such as Yahoo Mail or via a native e-mail client application such as Microsoft Outlook. A native e-mail client program will talk directly to an e-mail server using IMAP or POP. Using a Web-based interface, your computer will use the browser to communicate with the Web-based mail server using HTTP, and the Web-based mail server will in turn connect to your e-mail server using POP or IMAP.